Home	Sales	Training	Contact Us
RDP Support		Open a Web Support Ticket Connect to Support with WebEx
RDPWin KB	RDP-DOS KB	IRM and IRM.Net KB	Crystal KB

Limit Guest Requests on the IRM 

Article ID: KI0058   5/18/06

When the IRM is configured to use preassign reservations, the process is as follows:

1. Configure each room number for a maximum number of people allowed.
2. The guest selects the arrival date, departure date, and number of people (required search criteria to find available rooms).
3. Configure up to 9 additional search criteria, such as the number of bedrooms, location, price range, etc. 
4. The IRM searches for rooms as follows:

• The room must be available from the arrival date to the departure date.
• The number of people entered by the guest must not exceed the maximum for the room from Step 1.
• The room must exactly match all search criteria specified by the guest in Step 3.
• The search is in "owner rotation order" to assure equalization of rentals among owners.

The result is that available rooms which are big enough for the party and match all search criteria are displayed in owner rotation order.  The system can show a picture of each room as well as a description.  A sample of the display is below.

Problem Overview & Solution

The design above works well as long as the number of search criteria is limited.  The critical factor is to make sure the guest sees some available rooms.  In the example above, there are five search criteria as follows:

At first glance, these search criteria appear logical.  But what if the guest were to search for an available four bedroom condo in Vail that was in the low price range and allowed smoking.  It is very possible that there are no rooms that match all of these criteria, and the guest will see the message "no available rooms match all search criteria" even though every room could be available!  This results in a poor experience for the guest.  They must enter many different search criteria to find a room.  The guest could decide to reduce the search criteria and search again.  However, the results could be interpreted as there are not rooms available.

The solution is to reduce the number of search criteria to the most critical.  All search criteria entered for rooms that are used by reservationists do not have to be used on the IRM.  Perhaps the only search criteria for Location is used.  The IRM would then display all available rooms in Vail that are big enough to accommodate all members of the party.  The guest can then look at the pictures and descriptions of each unit to decide which one to book.  

Providing a great experience for the guests using the IRM is critical.  RDP will be glad to provide free consulting to optimize the revenue generated.  Please call RDP support at 970-845-7108.  Also please see Additional IRM Tips.

IRM Troubleshooting Links